CBNNews.com - ASHKELON, Israel - Two Palestinian terror groups claimed joint responsibility for a Grad missile attack that scored a direct hit on a mall in the coastal city of Ashkelon.

"This attack was intended as a message to Israel that if it continues to escalate the situation and reject the cease-fire proposal, Zionist residents of southern Palestine [sic] will continue to live under danger of mortal peril and this will be their own government's responsibility," Abu Abir, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees told YNet news.

The missile tore through the roof of a second-floor women's health clinic, burying several people under piles of metal and concrete and blowing out four windows.

Fifteen people were wounded in the attack, including two infants and two young children. Paramedics treated nearly 90 people for shock.

The injured were transported to the Barzilai Medical Center.

The attack came as US President George Bush and Israeli Prime Ehud Olmert were meeting in Jerusalem.